[review] Ghost Effects Silicon Pep Box (by Bieke)

Ghost Effects Silicon Pep Box

Aha! Finally I get to try out one of those yummy looking Ghost
Effects pedals. The Silicon Pep Box. It's a faithful clone of one of
those mega rare fuzzboxes from the sixties, the WEM Rush Pep Box.

Ghost Effects is based in Birmingham UK and was founded in 2004 by
Ian Sherwen, a fine pedalbuilder who is really devoted to meticulously
recreate all of those wonderful fuzz circuits from the roaring sixties.

The History

OK, most fuzz addicts will agree that the first commercial available
fuzzbox was the "made in USA" Maestro Fuzztone as early as 1962. The
Maestro was not really a huge success in the beginning, it did not take
off until 1965, when the Stones used it for the classic Satisfaction
intro riff. All of a sudden, the fuzz sound became very popular, and
since the Maestro fuzz pedals were not available in stores in the UK or
Europe, people started making fuzz pedals over here as well. Hurrah!

Pepe Rush was a London sound engineer who produced his first Pep Box in 1965.

The original Pep Box was inspired on the Maestro Fuzztone, encased in
a similar wedge enclosure, but using 3 germanium transistors.

Around 1966, Pepe Rush licensed his design to WEM. Little is known
about this transition. There is a picture of John Lennon toying with a
silver wedge WEM Pep box during the Revolver studio session. This was in
1966. Circuitwise, it was more leaning towards a Fuzz Face then, using 2
germanium transistors.

Anyway, the silicon WEM Rush Pep Box, made by "Watkins London
England" was released around the end of 1967. Later on, also a bass
version of this pedal became available.

This WEM Rush Pep Box was a rectangular metal box (32 cm long, 8,7 cm
wide, 4cm deep), painted in red with a black wooden top covered with
black rubber and with bare metal trim, the controls – one for volume,
the other for "pep" - were recessed into the top panel and both controls
could be dialed to a maximum output of 8.

Also, the pedal did not have the familiar in- and outputs, but
instead it was fitted with its own output cable. This WEM Rush Pep Box
used two BC107 Silicon NPN transistors.

Ian Sherwen of Ghost Effects obtained a vintage WEM pedal and his
version is faithfully modeled after an original WEM Rush Pep Box.

The Looks

But hey, it's not a rectangular box with a dangling cable. From a
design standpoint, Ian wisely decided to go for the more pedalboard
friendly 1590 BB Hammond style casing, powdercoated in silver and with a
red bottom panel and red silkscreened lettering in a similar typeface
as the original WEM pedal. Of course it does have the same 2 controls
for Volume and Pep.

In- and Outputs on the front, battery only, so no adapted plug. I
believe there are 2 versions, one with status LED and one without, both true bypass. No battery lid. You have to
unscrew the red bottom plate to gain access to the 9V battery.

Beautifully done inside, with an old school brown turret board, point
to point wiring and with a trimpot to adjust the sustain. Pure eyecandy.
Top notch craftsmanship.

The Sounds

Is what it is all about. In an ideal setting that is my garage.
Indeed, the sound of the Pep Box typically fits in between the Fuzz
Face, Tonebender and Fuzztone sounds of the era and is totally suited to
get that garage tone. A really, really nasty, dirty, fizzy, raspy and
somewhat thin sounding, trumpety fuzz that works especially well with
single notes. It sounds very bright, a little harsh even, and yet, it is
relatively silent. With a low setting on the Pep control, it produces a
starving fuzz sound, with that typical sag effect. Tone will not
sustain, it will cut out at an early stage. In fact, you have to pick
your notes firmly to kick the fuzz into action. So it's not at all
dynamic, if you pick too gently, you can easily get no sound at all, a
little harder can get you just to the point that you get a note that
drops dead immediately. Just strum hard enough to get a consistent
sound, or dial in some more Pep.

If you dial in more volume, it also will be less picky to dynamics
and it will always rip out the notes you play. And it can get very, very
loud with unity volume already at around 20%. The Pep control adds more
fuzz, fizziness and treble. So obviously, you just want to turn it all
the way up to get the most out of it, or turn it down to get that
starved voltage saggy fuzz sound. It does not really clean up at all if
you roll back volume on guitar, it is just not designed for that. It
just rips and cuts out, no sputtery sustain. More like a chainsaw
through a beehive kind of sound. That stops all of a sudden. Because of
that, the Pep Box works really well for those superfast riffs.

Also, I still need to try this, but if you install a fresh battery,
the Pep Box can also make sharp clicking or low popping noises, crackles
and broken sounds. Also, if you hold a metal object close to the guitar
pick-up, it can do ripping Velcro sounds and glitches. Which can be
useful.

If you want a more classic fuzz sound, you can add another dirt
pedal, particularly works well with overdrive, especially if you do like
to play fuzzy chords.

The Verdict

Well, it certainly is not a modern sounding fuzz. Quite the contrary.
I for one am really pleased that Ghost Effects is making pedals that
replicate that vintage sound without having to hassle with all the
quirks of the old originals. It's the best choice for those looking to
get as close as possible to that sixties garage fuzz tone.